Air Pollution Tolerance Index of Plant Species in Urban areas

Motivation for dataset compilation:A modern problem that is widely observed around the globe mainly in urban areas and industrial areas is air pollution and this causes health issues to humans and other organisms such as plants (Enitan et al., 2022). Trees and other plants have the natural ability to mitigate air pollution by filtering the air (Pandey et al., 2015). However, all plants vary in their ability to tolerate and mitigate air pollution and this can be assessed through the measurement of total chlorophyll content, ascorbic acid content, leaf extract pH and relative water content of sampled leaves.These measurements are plant features affected by air pollutants, and from them, the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) can be calculated to assess how a plant species copes with air pollution (Molnár et al., 2020)This information is valuable when deciding what trees are to be planted in highly polluted cities for the purpose of air pollution mitigation or defining trees that are able to bioindicate pollution (Pandey et al., 2015)This dataset compiles the APTI values of 37 species of trees and shrubs growing in polluted urban areas and roadsides in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, Lahore in Pakistan, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Ludhiana in India andIsfahan in Iran. A large amount of studies on the APTI of plants in urban areas are conducted in south-asia in highly polluted and densily populated areas. Therefore, this study focused primarily on this region to indentify howlocal plants have adapted to the conditions.Each of these studies looked at a variety of plant species commonly growing around the studied areas, random fresh leaf samples were taken and the necessary measurements for the APTI were recorded. 

==============================================================================================================================================Literature search protocol:

- Who: Barbara Hoehnke- When: Week of 5th to 11th of February- Search engine: Google Scholar- Search terms: tree species air pollution tolerance index, plant species air pollution tolerance index- Sifting : Looked at more recent papers (2010-2024)Tried to vary locations of researchonly the recordings of the plants in polluted areas were added to the spreadsheet, control data was ignored.==============================================================================================================================================Metadata:Additional qualifiers of the data columns (units, extra descriptors, etc.)

APTI - The Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) in plants is calculated with the formula = [A(T+P)] + R]/10where:A = Ascorbic acid content (mg/g).T = Total chlorophyll content (mg/g).P = pH of leaf extract.R = Relative water content of leaf (%).- The APTI values are classified according to the following:APTI value and Response<1 = Very sensitive1-16 = Sensitive17-29 = Intermediate30-100 = Tolerant

Location - city or area where study was runRoadside or urban - type of location measurements were conducted atTrue or Estimate - whether latitude and longitude coordinates are from the study or estimated by the data collectorDifferent sampling locations - additional information on locations if papers took samples in multiple places

==============================================================================================================================================Reference list:

Enitan, I.T., Durowoju, O.S., Edokpayi, J.N. and Odiyo, J.O. (2022). A Review of Air Pollution Mitigation Approach Using Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) and Anticipated Performance Index (API). Atmosphere, 13(3), p.374. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13030374.Molnár, V.É., Simon, E., Tóthmérész, B., Ninsawat, S. and Szabó, S. (2020). Air pollution induced vegetation stress – The Air Pollution Tolerance Index as a quick tool for city health evaluation. Ecological Indicators, 113, p.106234. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106234.Pandey, A.K., Pandey, M., Mishra, A., Tiwary, S.M. and Tripathi, B.D. (2015). Air pollution tolerance index and anticipated performance index of some plant species for development of urban forest. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 14(4), pp.866–871. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2015.08.001.Sadeghian, M.M. and Mortazaienezhad, F. (2012). Selection and identification of air pollution-tolerant plants by air pollution tolerance index (APTI) in urban parks of Isfahan, Iran. AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY, 11(55). doi:https://doi.org/10.5897/ajb11.4130.Shahrukh, S., Hossain, S.A., Huda, M.N., Moniruzzaman, M., Islam, Md.M., Shaikh, Md.A.A. and Hossain, M.E. (2023). Air pollution tolerance, anticipated performance, and metal accumulation indices of four evergreen tree species in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Current Plant Biology, 35-36, p.100296. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpb.2023.100296.Sapkota, S. and Shrestha, S., M.(2024). Assessment of air pollution tolerance index and anticipated performance index of roadside plants used for greenbelt development in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Environmental Challenges, 14, pp.100818–100818. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2023.100818.Verma, J., Singh, P. and Sharma, R. (2022). Evaluation of air pollution tolerance index and anticipated performance index of selected roadside tree species in Ludhiana, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 195(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10784-4.Zahid, A., Ali, S., Anwar, W., Fatima, A., Muhammad Bilal Chattha, Ayub, A., Raza, A., Ali, K. and Siddique, M. (2023). Assessing the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) of trees in residential and roadside sites of Lahore, Pakistan. SN Applied Sciences, 5(11). doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-023-05470-0.